Piston fixture



Nov. 3x0, 1937. H. w. zlMMl-:RMAN 2,100,534y

PISTON FIXTURE l Filed June 6, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l ff/f' C y A, 7556'5.

Nov. 30, 1937. H. 'w. zlMMERMAN PISTON FIXTURE Filed June 6, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Unef/7707@ Patented Nov. 30, 1937 assigner to Automotive Maintenance Machinery Co., North Chicago, Ill.,A a corporation of Illinois Application June 6, 1936, serial No."s3,925

11 Claims.

My invention relates to a piston supporting fixture, andit has to do particularly with a fixture Well suited for use in servicing automotive piston and connecting rod assemblies.

'5 In the methods heretofore employed in assembling and 'disassembling automotive pistons and connecting rods, there is always the tendency to distort and damage either the piston or the connecting rod, or both. As is well known, var-4 ious forms of locking devices aretemployed for xing'pisto'n pins in the piston pin v.bosses so that the' connecting rod. is rotatable thereabout, or iixing the 4connecting rod to the piston pin with the ends of thewpin rotatable in the piston pin bosses. These locking devices are usually disposed within the piston skirt 'adjacent the piston pin bosses, whereltheyvare not readily accessible. lIt is necessary at times to apply considerable force to a'suitable tool for'removing and releasing 20 such devices after lthe piston assembly has been in usefa long time and such vdevices have become somewhat frozen, so to speak, in position; Also,

in assembly work, considerable force is required to set these devices to their proper locking posi- T/km- K I-Ieretofore, in both assembling and disassembling pistons and connecting rods, it has been customary to grip an intermediate part of the connecting rod avise, and at times the piston itself maybe `so held while the locking devices are released, `with the resultant distortion anddamage abovereferred to due to the torsional strains,

and stresses applied Vto `these parts inl using 'the force necessary tomrelease or set up the locking devices. I havefound that it isb not-an unusual experience in reassembly of the piston and connecting rod, after disassembly and'servicing of the same, to discover that the connecting rod vhas been twisted out o-f alignment and the piston and 40 connecting rod have been otherwise distorted and damaged. *'l'hese conditions cause unnecessary servicing operations which add to the time and cost thereof, and, many times they result-particularly where the workman is not highly skilled,-in improperly aligned connecting rods being assembled after the servicing operation.

l One o f the objects of my invention isjto vavoid the foregoing objectionable conditionsin the serv'- icing of piston an-d connecting rod assemblies.

Another object is to provide a supporting xture which is adapted to support the piston and connecting rodin such a way that, regardless of the force required to release and remove or set up'the-locling devices above mentioned, thepiston or connectingrod will not be distortedt (o1. .2s-se) e A further object is to provide a'i'lxture.l of the foregoing character which is adapted to" directly engage vand firmly hol-d the Apiston by engaging the same at right angles to theaxisthereofand to, "at the same time, support both the pistonand the connecting rod at any desired'angle for ready access to the piston pin or connecting rod locking devices, as the case may be. 1 l

Still another objectfis to provide a fixture Vadapted to engage the opposite ends-'of the piston pin for support of the'piston", `and-to 'provideadditional and adjustable means adapted'torengage f either the connecting vrod or the piston for holding these parts in any particular position to which they may be adjusted, the arrangement -being such that the piston may be held non-rotatably in any desired position about its support for per'- forming any desired servicing operation thereon.

Another object is to l provide a fixture vof'. the foregoing'character which is 'notA only'qu'ite simple in construction and very cheap to-iIna'nufacture,V but it is .exceedinglysturdy l'and durable and is;

capable of Withs'tanding'rough'usage without decrease in itssupporting efliciency.

Other objects and advantages; sonic-fof"whichA lie in the form and relationshipof thefxtu're parts, lwill becomeV obvious as this description progresses and by reference to the drawings, wherein,- t A Y Fig. 1 isaside elevationalv vieW,z partially in section, of one form of 'xture'embodying my invention, the same being illustrated in position for supporting one kind ofV piston andconnectingrod Y assembly; ,f

Fig. 2 is an end elevational vi'ewoff the structureV shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view `ofthe tool shown in the previous figures and'having its'- parts differently positioned for supporting Ya pistnand connectingrod assembly; 1

Fig 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 butshowing still another manner of supporting a piston and Iconnecting-rod assembly inthe use of. my invent'- tion;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of a slightlymodifled form of fixture embodying ymy invention.; and

Fig.' 6 is a fragmentary, side elevational view of Y the structure shown in Fig. 5. A l

In Figs. 1 and Y2,*I have shown a xturesupporting a conventional type'oi'Y piston Il Il` having'. piston pin Il xedly secured or lockedl'inithe piston pin bosses vI2 by alockingscrew or'device A I3. `A connectingrod I4 is rotatably mounted on the piston` pin IIv inthe customary manner.AV In 19h? 115e .0f :my invention, boththepistonand conparts for supporting and positioning the vpiston A and connecting rod.

The boss I8 isprovided with a comparatively 15 large threaded opening adapted to receiveva screw member I9 having a handle 26 that may be readily grasped andactuated to move the screw I9 toward and from the piston I0.f VThe screw I9 is provided at its inner end with an opening for the 20 reception of the shank or stem 2I of a coneshaped supporting member 22, which is of suflcientsize for entry of the same into the adjacent end of the piston vpin II. The cone support 22 is readily removable, and variable sized cones 25 Vor any other suitable supporting device may be readily substituted therefor.

The boss I 1 is provided Withacomparatively large and unthreaded opening 23 which is adapted to snugly receivea tubular shaft-like part 24 30 ,having anlenlarged head or iiange part 25 abutting rvthe `inner surfaceof'the boss I'I and sup porting an elongated bar orvarm 26 which extends VVat right angles to the axis of the shaft 24. The itubular head and shaft 214, 25 `slidably and '35 snugly receives the shank or stem 2I of another cone-shaped member 28, similar to the cone member 22, the end of `*which entersand engages the other, oradjacent, end of the piston pin vI I.

It will fbe seen that, with-'the foregoing arrangefiO ment, whena piston ofthe type shown at I9 is placed between. the cone members 22, 28 and the screw member I9 is set into'thek position shown inv Fig.l 21, the piston I IlV isf` firmly supported through the piston pin'and `at the piston pin 4 5 bosses; which parts are quite strong and willjavoid distortionlof thepiston. In'fact,bysupporting the 'Y piston through engagement with the piston pin,

torsional strains and stresses applied in detach- Y ingthe parts will be exerted mainly on the pis- 5'0 ton pin, thereby directly avoidingany tendency to' distort or otherwise damage the piston.

- My invention further includes'a separate' sup- 'port for theconnecting rod III,` which'support is adjustable so that it may` also serve as an'addi- Q5 tional support for thei piston I0Yto avoid'the tendency of the piston, under certain` conditions, to

Vrotate aboutits support. vTo, this end, any ad- `justablesupporting device 29 is mounted on'the arm 26; abovel described. More particularly,`the

.6 supporting device 29 is L-shaped, providing a Vbase part 30 anda'right-'angled smooth-faced leg VSI adapted to extend laterally past the connect-A ingrod I4. The parts 3U and 3| are additionally JoinedVV by a strengthening. web 3,2, providing a 6. V'strong and durable supporting device. 'Ihe base partorleg 39 of the supporting device is provided `Withia slideway 33 adapted to slidably receive the Y SUPDOrting arm 2tfaritl'they device 29 is adapted tobelocked in any desired position along the 7,0 am12?byasetscrew34.` j It will be seen from the foregoing that the tublllarshaft 24 is rotatably'mounted softhat the arm V26' thereon maybe rotated to various positions 'around the axis; oif'the cone supports 22; 28 75,1 andi the piston pinV I." mother words, if itis desirable to hold the piston I0 in an upright posi-r tion as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the supporting. device 29 may be adjusted along the arm 26 sov as to support the connecting rodY at any desired angle where it will not interfere with work within the skirt of the piston. The arm 26 may be swung from one side to the other of the axis of the supporting cones 22.,.28 so Vthat the connecting rod I4 may be supported at the desired inclination mi either side. This avoids any tendency for the; la piston to rotate out of its set position due to the weight of the connecting rod, which would, otherwise, fall over and rest against the inverted skirt of the piston. That is tosay, the connecting rod support is independent of the piston support so that any tendency of either of these parts to move Will not aiect the other It will also be seen that, since thehead portion 25 Ycarrying the arm 26 is confined between the cone member 28 and the boss II, the mere setting up of the screw spindlel I9 will tend to hold the arm 26 in desired 'posi-- tion against accidental displacement. However; the leverage action in this armis suflicient tol permit it to be independently adjusted to its intended position by the application of force applied thereto. To avoid any possible movement of ther arm 26 after the parts have been` set into their intended positionsJ employ a set screw V35 which, when tightened, locks the shaft 24 Vand arm 26 v against rotationA In cases Where ,the connecting rod is non-ro` tatably secured to the piston-pin, it maybe desirable,v 'for accessibility convenience, to support the piston in the `manner illustrated in Fig. 3`. More particularly, the pistonpin may be engaged and supported by the'cone devices 22, 28 shown inY Fig. 1, with the piston held at an angle with respect to the vertical and with the connecting rod tilted over and supported against the inverted bottomv wall of the piston for ready accessibility 40 to the lockingbolt'38. In this case, to avoid the tendency of the piston 36 to rotate under the Weight of the connecting rod, the connecting rod supporting arm 26 is rotated to a positionl wherein the smooth face of the device 29 is disposed `d5 againstthe head 39 of thepiston. With the sup-V "5 porting face of the device 29 in firm, flush en gagement with thepiston head,V the locking screw' 35 is tightened andV the piston is held firmly against movement in any direction for the re-5'0 moval of the lock bolt .3B-or for any other oper' Y ation that the workman may wish to perform. on the piston Or the assembly.

If desired, the piston may be supported in the manner shown in Fig. lwith equally good resultsz'. A5 5, In`this casefthe piston 40 and connecting rod'lllV j may correspond to the piston 36 and connecting rod 31, respectively, of Fig. 3, but the supporting arm 26 and its device. 29 are moved so that 4the latter will engageY the under side wall portion of Y the piston skirt to support the same during the assembly and disassembly operations.

In some cases, the `piston pins may be secured non-rotatably within'the piston pinbosses by a locking device passing through the pin and pre.- G5 ventingthe use of cone devices that enter the ends' o'f the pin. Such an arrangementis shown in Figs'.l 5 andY 6, wherein the piston pin 42 is held non-rotatably in Vthepiston pin bosses/ 43 by a pin 44- passingthrough the bosses. 43 andthe .70 outer end ofthe pin.v Also, where piston pins of Ythe so-called floating type (freely rotatable with respect-.to both the Vbossesjand'the connecting rodyare employed, spring locking rings are-proff-arousal pins met shown)v fory nomingltne fpinsjagainsr addition," to' une!'summit' afforddlfityjtiii piston axial displacement. M73.in 5 that` "case,vlrr :the cone devices 2-2,` 28 of Fig. 1 would not serve'as suitable supports forthe piston. In that 'caseylike in the jmay also beprovided'with a 'suitable lining material (fabric or the like) `45a and .46e to prevent marring of the piston' surface.

case shown in Fig. 5, Ipreferably vemploy jawlikesupporting devices insteadof the cone-supports 22, 28. More particularly,'referrin`gf toligs. 5 and 6, the structure illustrated Vis the same as that of Figs. l and 2 except "that V-jaw members 45, 46-are substituted for the cone devices 22, 28, respectively. These jaw devices are provided with stems 41 and 48` which correspond to the cone stems-2l, 21. The V-jaw members 45, 46, when thehand'wheel'V 49 is setbup',grippingly engage the sidewall of the pistoni andhold itrrn- :lywith the ends of the -openingsin'tliepis'ton pin bosses accessible 'for removal' ofthe Vpin' holding means. The` piston' and connecting rod may be additionally supported in "either of the ways shown in Figs. l toi/inclusive. 'The jaw devices I believe that the operation and advantages of my invention will be understood from the foregoing description. This xture fills a particular need in the automotive service field and it enables the workmen, even unskilled ones, to assemble and disassemble connecting rods and piston quickly and easily without any danger of distorting or damaging the same, all of which is conducive not only to improved service Work but re'- duced cost of the same. erations are performed on automotive pistons, and a fixture embodying my invention is well suited for support of the piston for any operation that the service man wishes to perform thereon.

It is to be understood that, although I have shown certain forms of my invention, other changes in details and arrangements of parts may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as defined by the claims that follow.

I claim:

1. In structure of the class described, a selfcontained unit comprising a frame, adjustable means carried by said frame for engaging and supporting a part of the piston structure, and separate means adjustably carried by said frame and movable relatively to said means and to a con- Y necting rod assembled with the piston for independently supporting the connecting rod at any desired position relative to the piston.

2. In structure of the class described, a selfcontained unit comprising a frame, adjustable means carried by said frame for engaging and supporting a part of the piston structure, a separate means carried by said frame and including v a part movable relative to said first means and to the piston structure for independently engaging and supporting a connecting rod assembled with the piston, said means including said part thereof being adjustable also to a position wherein said part engages and additionally supports the piston.

3. In structure of the class described, a selfcontained unit comprising a frame, means carried by said frame and adjustable'toward and from the piston pin of the piston structure for engagement with the pin to support the piston structure, and separate means carried by said frame and mounted for movement as a whole angularly relative to said first means, said separate means having a part adapted to engage a connecting rod assembled with the piston structure and support the same in different angular positions relative to the piston structure and in Y '4.instructure o Y having a'pair'of aligned support'memberslspaced Various servicing opstructure.

'f the 'dass described; a; name apart sufficiently toreceive a pistonftherebe'tween;

K means including a deviceI carried by said'support members and adjustable toward landffron'r the piston pin carried by the-piston 'for engaging the Vpiston pin to support the piston' 'structure-as a,

" whole, and means including another device Yrotatably "carried by one Vof saidl support` mer'nbers and having a part fori'engaging and-supporting a connecting rod 'assembled withthe piston at different .angles'relative to the piston;

5.` In' structure means including a deviceV carried by said., support members andadjustabletowadandfrom-the pis-A ton-pin carried bythe piston for engaging the ends' of the piston pin to support the pistn'structure as a whole, and means including 'one part rotatably carried by one,I of rsaid'support members "and having a secondpart for engaging "and sup- `-porting` atdifierent angular positionsaconnect- `ir'g-rooffassembled"with the pistonjsaid econd y part being adjustable to a plurality of positions relative to said rst part, in at least onel of which positions said second part is engageable with andk for fixing said rotatable supporting member in different rotative positions, and a support device adjustably carried by said rotatable support member for engaging 'and additionally supporting the piston and/or a connecting rodassembled with the piston.

7. In structure of the class described, a selfcontained unit comprising a frame, means carried by said frame and adjustable toward and from the piston pin of the p-iston structure for engagement with thev pin to support'the piston structure, and separate means carried by said frame and mounted for movement as a whole angularly relative to said first means, said separate means having a part adapted to engage a connecting rod assembled with the piston struc-V ture and support the same in different angular positions relative to the piston structure and in addition to the support afforded by the piston structure, said part being mounted for movement toward and from themeans supporting the piston structureindependently of its movement with said separate means as a Whole.

8. Inl structure of the class described, a frame, spaced and aligned support members on said frame, an adjustable member carried by one of said support members, a piston holding device removablyV carried by said adjustable member, another piston holding device carried by the other of said support members, an arm rotatably supvice carried by said arm. and movable longitudiof the class 'describedf aframe f having' apair? of aligned support membersspaced Aapart su'iciently izo/receive a piston therebetween,

nally thereon and adapted to engage the piston i and/ or a connecting rod assembled with the pis- 2,4 Y Y ton,A dependent upon the :spaced and aligned support'members on said Y n frame, a screw member carried yby one of said support members, a support device having a stemV position lto which said arm is rotated. Y

9. Inrstruoture of the class described,a frame,

, removably received in the end of said screw member and a cone-shaped head adapted to enter and engage the adjacent end of a piston Ypin carried by the piston, an arm having a shaft rotatablyV i mounted in the other of said support members, a

second support device similar to the rstY having Y its stem removably received in said arm shaft, and a device carriedby said'armf and movable longitudinally thereon for additionally supporting the piston and/or a connectingrod assembled with the piston,A dependent'upon the position of said arm. Y

10. In structure of the class described, a frame, a pair of spaced and aligned support members carried by said frame, an adjustable member carried by one of said support members, a piston i Vsupporting element having a stem removably re- Y ceived in the end of said A25 adjustable member and also having a V-shaped jaw adapted to embrace i the side wall of the piston,A an arm having a right- ,angled shaft vrotatably mounted .in one of said support Vmembers, another supporting element similar to the-rst having its stem removably re- Y ceived in said shaft, and a device slidably cari-A Y Y ried by said arm for adjustment therealong for posed shaft Vrotatably supported in the other of said supporting members, another piston support- -ing element removably'earried by said shaft,`a

device slidably mounted onfsaid arm and having a partrextendingat substantially right angles to v said arm' and having a smooth face, said device,

dependent upon the position of said arm, being adjustable to positions wherein its smooth face engages the side wallf or head end of' the piston or wherein said part thereof engages and lsupports a connecting rod assembled with the piston;- 

